


Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus

by Sissytobitch10seconds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: After Cursed Child, Alternate Universe, Anxiety, Classes, Deaf, Depression, Feasts, Gossip, Gryffindor, Hogwarts, Hufflepuff, Impaired, Mean Girls, Original Character(s), Ravenclaw, Ravens, Roomates, Rude - Freeform, Sign Language, Slytherine, Sorting Hat - Freeform, Teachers, spells, wheelchair
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2018-12-09 23:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11678925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sissytobitch10seconds/pseuds/Sissytobitch10seconds
Summary: To prevent the houses from hating each other as much as they have in the past, Professor McGonagall changes the way that Hogwarts homes it's students. One Slytherine, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff will live together for the duration that they are at Hogwarts. While it has prevented a lot of bullying, living with a girl in a wheelchair and someone who cannot speak to you does have it's hardships, even though the other two girls have their own issues, though their's are purely mental.





	1. Chapter One: First Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this with three other people, so that is why the styles of writing change so often.   
> I am the Slytherin, Kat is the Ravenclaw, Time-Turner13 is the Gryffindor, and Em is the Hufflepuff.

The train let out a loud vibration and billowed a more than healthy amount of smog-even for an old fashioned train. I smiled at my parents and signed  _ I love you! Goodbye, Mother, Father, _ before I ran onto the train, giving the conductor my letter from Hogwarts, he said something and then pointed for me to move along. 

I jumped a bit as the train lurched forward, not knowing what I was meant to do, I walked further and further into the bowels of the trian. I glanced at each compartment that I went by, each seemed to be full of Second Year and up students, as well as their younger siblings. I was almost to the back of the train when I finally got to a compartment that had one girl sitting in it, she was already in her Hogwarts uniform, which concerned me at first, seeing as all the others that I had run into that had their uniforms were returning students.

I knocked on the door, praying to all of the African gods and goddesses that I could remember that she would not reject me for being a freak, if she could hear my knock at all. I assumed that I had either knocked just loud enough, or too loud as her head whipped around I saw a wheelchair leaning up against the window and I smiled, there was a lesser chance that I would get rejected if she too was disabled. 

I took a pad and quill out of my pockets, seeing as I was still in my jeans and wrote,  _ May I come in?  _ The letters looked like scratches from the bird that was currently perched on my shoulder. She nodded and made a gesture to the wheelchair. I smirked, the only smile that I seemed capable of, and opened the sliding glass door. 

I placed my suitcase on the rack and picked Deimos off of the bag before shutting the door on the poor bird. Phobos shifted and nuzzled his mate. I smiled and sat down, facing the other girl. She said something into her hand and I huffed, rolling my eyes.

I clapped my hands, catching her attention, I pulled out the pad and paper.  _ What did you say? I am deaf I cannot hear you.  _ I wrote quickly. Though it still looked as if Phobos had written it.

The pale haired girl nodded in realization, she lifted her hands up, looking at the ceiling, she slowly signed,  _ I know not all sign language. Can understand more than show. _

I beamed, signing to her,  _ Thank Shango! I was worried I would have to write on pad and paper my entire time. What is your name? I am Inyoka. _

_ Nala, _ she signed back, slow with her letters. A smirk slid across my chapped lips once again as I stuck out my hand, she took it, squeezing so hard that it hurt. I grimaced and then flopped down next to her, removing my ravens from my shoulder. 

I glanced over at Nala, who was writing something on the pad and paper that I had dropped earlier. When she handed it over to me. I looked at her and then back to the paper a time or two, rather confused about what she wanted me to do. “Read it.” she mouthed. I nodded and then glanced down at the perfect cursive writing.

_ Are those your birds? _

_ Yes. _

_ Where did you get them from? _

_ My mother was a bird charmer. I got them for my ninth birthday. Their names are Phobos and Deimos. _

_ That’s so cool! Do you know why they’re cuddling? _

_ They’re mates. _

_ Cool again. Were you always deaf? If you don’t mind me asking. _

_ I don’t mind. No, I wasn’t always deaf. It started off with bad hearing, and then I slowly just lost the ability to hear. _

_ That’s really sad.  _

_ What about you? _

_ What? _

_The wheelchair is yours right?_ _  
__Oh. That. Yeah. I was in an accident when I was a baby. Shattered all the bones in my legs._

 

~~~

I trailed my long, nimble fingers through my corn-rowed hair, making the jewels that had been braided into them bang together, thus making the corn-rows swish back and forth. I took a deep breath in through my nose and then opened my eyes, hoping that no one had been talking to me while I calmed my nerves. My eyes darted to the student who had been standing next to me, coincidentally, it was the same girl from the train.

I chewed on my bottom lip and stood on my tiptoes, trying to see over the other students, thus I would be able to read the Headmistress’s lips. There was a very large male in front of me, making it so I could not see anything in front of him, my shoulders slumped.

I just stayed and waited for someone around me to move so that I could move closer to see what was happening. The room was silent, it was always silent to me, but there was no buzzing of noise at that moment, a girl in a wheelchair nudged my leg, pointing at the stool, I sighed and walked up to the chair, signing  _ I’m sorry. I’m deaf. _ To Professor McGonagall. She tilted her head to the side and I just let the breath escape from my lips.

I shook my head and hopped onto the stool, waiting for the hat to be placed on my head. There was a buzzing sensation when it was placed atop my hair that were laced with emeralds. I looked at the floor and then glanced at my tie, watching it as turned into Slytherin colors. My lips tugged into a smirk and I hopped off of the stool, going to stand with the other chosen First-years. I watched as the girl from the train, I believe she said her name was Nala Solana, pulled herself onto the stool.

The hat shouted something that I could not hear, per the usual, and she beamed. Getting off of the stool, she wheeled over to me, her mouth moving in words that I could not understand. I held up one of my dark fingers, pointing at my ear and signing,  _ Slow down! _ She smiled and began to talk slower. 

“I got into Gryffindor,” she pointed to her tie and then looked up at me with a smile, “We could be flatmates!” I nodded vigorously and giggled mentally as a smirk tugged at my lips. Someone backed into Nala, it would make sense, seeing as her eyes were pointed at the floor. 

My friend’s brow furrowed and she exclaimed, her eyebrows furrowing with anger. The girl that she had run into apologized and then paled, I could see her breath quicken, her hands began to move down to where the folds of her skirt were. I placed my calloused hand on Nala’s shoulder. 

Her hair, had it not been cut to around her ears, would have hit me in the face with how fast she turned. I shook my head and she sucked in her cheeks, muttering what I assumed was an apology to the girl she had just been yelling at. 

“Do you want help?” someone asked me in my head, I turned and jumped back when I saw the charms teacher, Professor Lovegood, she had a slight smile on her lips as she pulled out her wand. “Hold out your hands.”

I did so and she placed her wand on my hand and muttered a spell, that I could not hear. The spell wrapped around my hands and then they felt warm, I furrowed my brow with confusion.  _ What did you do to my hands?  _ I signed. My mouth fell open when the words that I had signed float into the air, spelling out the letters, one by one. 

“I cast a translation charm on your hands, it’s generally used for delegates coming from other countries, but I’ve seen it done on people who use sign language. I’m glad it worked for you, remember to watch out for Plexuses in your bed!”

I beamed and thanked the teacher, feeling butterflies go off in my stomach as I watched the words flutter around in front of me ‘til I waved them away. I looked back at the Headmistress and waited for her to tell us who are roommates would be. 

When the last of the students were finally sorted she called for all the students. “Gryffindors to the South, Slytherins to the North, Ravenclaws to the East and Hufflepuffs to the West please!” she shouted at the students, who followed her orders, though they stumbled over each other quite a bit before they finally ended up where they were supposed to be.  
“You will have one of every other house as your flatmates for the rest of your time at Hogwarts, so you better learn to get along with each other!” Professor McGonagall warned before she placed the blood red stone that she had placed in the palm of her hand in the middle of the students.

Red light shot out from the stone and scanned all of the students. I inhaled sharply through my nose and then jolted forward, I smirked when I noticed that Nala and I were being pulled closer together. 

When the sensation faded I noticed that there were two others around us, one of them was the girl from before who had been sorted into Hufflepuff, she looked almost as nervous as before, but she was now with a girl who was sorted into Ravenclaw. 

_ Introductions? _ I signed with a small smile.  _ I am Inyoka Sasanata. _

“I’m Nala Sonala,” Nala said, sticking out her hand, she did not do this to me, as we had met on the train before the sorting. The Ravenclaw took the hand and said something that I could understand, seeing as her lips were moving too fast.

Nala turned to me and mouthed, “Jace Webster,” and then turned to the girl that they had run into earlier, she also muttered something that I could not understand, so Nala translated, “Enna Baldwin.”

I smirked, slightly happy that I was finally at Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter Two: Classes

As I stood in the circle of three other eleven-year-old girls, I had to take deep breaths to keep from bouncing off the walls. Ugh, I hated my ADHD. I hoped it wouldn’t give me detention all the time. 

As I introduced myself to the Slytherin girl with emeralds in her hair, I could hear my voice going way faster than usual. The Slytherin girl looked confused, and the Gryffindor next to her mouthed my name-- ‘Jace Webster’. The Slytherin smiled and nodded, then started making odd gestures with her dark, thin fingers. Glittering green letters hovered in the air in front of her.

I read them quickly. They said  _ Hello. My name is Inyoka Sasanata. I am deaf, so don’t be surprised if I cannot understand you. _

“Sorry,” I said, slower this time. Inyoka smirked and waved off the apology. 

The nervous-looking Hufflepuff next to me shifted and started tugging on her blond hair. “I’m Enna Baldwin,” she muttered, her lips barely moving. Inyoka looked confused and looked to the Gryffindor, who mouthed Enna’s name as well. Inyoka’s smirked widened.

_ Pleased to meet you all. I guess we’re flatmates now?  _

“Yeah,” said the Gryffindor, who introduced herself as Nala Sonala, “This ought to be fun.”

“All of you should be chosen by now,” said Professor McGonagall, “Mr. Filch will be coming through your groups, handing out room numbers and keys. Please have a good year!”

The grouchy-looking caretaker and his scary cat, Mrs. Norris, walked along, handing envelopes to each group of four. I took the envelope for us, which had the words ‘Girls: The Phoenixes’ written on it in curly green writing. I slit open the envelope and handed it to Enna Baldwin beside me, trying to help her feel more welcome. She took it silently, then handed the key to Inyoka. The deaf Slytherin examined the key and signed something. Three numbers hovered in the air in front of her: 309.

“Sure, let’s go,” said Nala, gently taking the envelope from Enna and wheeling her weird chair down a hallway where all the rest of the girls were going. Boys went down a different corridor.

“What did the envelope mean by ‘The Phoenixes?’” I asked, staring over Nala’s shoulder momentarily. The Muggle-born girl laughed.

“I think it’s like a team name or something,” she said, “We’re the Phoenixes. I think the others have other names.”

Enna shifted nervously. “I was talking to my sister, she’s in Slytherin and in a different group. She said her envelope read ‘The Hippogriffs’.”

“Yeah,” I piped up, “I was chatting with one of those other Ravenclaws over there. Her group is ‘The Blast-Ended Skrewts’. Talk about an unappetizing group name. My mum told me about Hagrid’s little episode with those things. Ick.”

“Yeah,” Enna said with a small smile, “My mum is a teacher here. He told me about those too, though I think they were before her time.”

“Who’s your mum?” asked Nala. 

Enna blushed. “Professor Baldwin,” she said, “Parvati. Her maiden name was Patil.”

_ My grandparents told me about some of the teachers, _ Inyoka signed,  _ My grandmother told me about Parvati Patil-Baldwin, and apparently the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is Albus Potter. _

“Really?” I asked, “Mum told me about Professor Potter. His dad’s apparently the famous Harry Potter.”

“Wow,” Enna whispered. I nodded and smiled. 

“Hey,” said a voice behind us, “Why are you standing in the hallway like that? You’re blocking traffic.” the voice wasn’t rude, just curious. All of us except for Inyoka glanced at where the voice was coming from.

A short, black Gryffindor girl with long ebony hair stood behind us with her flatmates, who were all taller than her. The Hufflepuff, who had a long sheet of bright red hair and lots of freckles, looked about as hyper as me (I wondered if she might have ADHD as well), the Ravenclaw, with her puff of curly obsidian hair and blue eyes, looked bored, and the Slytherin looked grumpy, tossing her fair ringlets as her dark eyes glittered. The Gryffindor girl smiled slightly at us when she saw our surprised faces.

“My name’s Thema,” she said, “Nice to meet you four. Our flat is number 310, what’s yours?”

“309,” said Nala, “We’ll be neighbors. How nice.”

Thema nodded. “These are my flatmates.” she gestured to the three girls around her. “Come on, girls, introduce yourselves.”

The Hufflepuff grinned. “Rhiannon,” she said, “Pleased to meet you.” she had a pronounced Irish accent, which I found appealing. 

The Ravenclaw yawned. “Evelina,” she said simply. The Slytherin girl scowled, but reluctantly shared her name.

“My name is Natalia,” she said, sounding sulky. 

Thema rolled her eyes. “Forgive Natalia,” she said, “She’ll get used to this.  _ She  _ thought she’d be staying with a bunch of Slytherins. Ha!”

Natalia scowled again. “My mum said that’s how it was!” she said defensively. Nola giggled.

“Things have changed since our parents were here,” she said, “Isn’t that right, Evelina?”

“Yeah,” said Evelina, “Can we get to our flat now?”

“Sure,” said Thema, “Hey, nice to meet you four. Neighbors!”

The other four girls disappeared down the hall. Inyoka, who had just noticed them, signed  _ What was that all about? _

“They’re our neighbors,” said Nala, doing basic signs as the words came out of her mouth, “They wanted to say hi. Now, we had better be going, the feast will be soon and we still have to drop off some stuff.” she glanced briefly at Inyoka’s ravens, who were busy cuddling each other on the deaf girl’s shoulder. Enna smiled up at the owl on her own shoulder. I cuddled Starlight, my cat.

“Okay,” I said, “Let’s drop off our animals and get back down to the Great Hall for the feast.”

 

~~~

 

The feast was the most magnificent meal I had ever tasted. My grin was so wide that it was sort of hard to eat.

“Dad never told me about how amazing the food is,” I whispered to Evelina, who was sitting next to me at the Ravenclaw table, “Do the house-elves still make it?”

“Yeah,” said Evelina, looking much more lively now that she had food in front of her, “My older brother Eric has been down there a few times to nick food. He can be an annoying git at times, but he’s really reliable if you want him to get you a snack.”

“Which House is he in?” I asked, drinking a bit of my pumpkin juice. Evelina glanced down the table. “He’s Ravenclaw as well,” she said, “Just down there.” she pointed.

“That prefect with the curly hair?” I asked, “The one that looks just like you?”

Evelina nodded. “He might be a prefect, but inside he’s almost as mischievous as Peeves.”

“Nice,” I smiled. Evelina smiled back. I got the feeling we would make great friends.

 

~~~ 

 

“Good morning, students,” said the Headmistress at breakfast, “I trust you’re all ready for classes today?”

Most students cheered. I rolled my eyes. I mean, I knew this was a magic school, but I was still not looking forward to some of the classes, like History of Magic. Mum had told me how boring it was.

“Hey, you ready?” Evelina asked me, “First for the Ravenclaws is Potions with Professor Malfoy. Oh boy!”

“You are such a geek,” I said, rolling my eyes again. Evelina snorted. “A geek?” she giggled, “Are you kidding? I’m looking forward to it because Professor Malfoy’s supposedly one of the best teachers in the school!”

“Oh. So, what’s after Potions?”

“Let’s see,” she said, glancing at her schedule, “H’m. Flying lessons with Madam Hooch.”

“The new Hooch? Peregrine?” I asked, “That should be fun. I’ve always wanted to fly a broom, but Mum wouldn’t let me. Said it was too dangerous for a girl my age.” 

“That’s silly,” said Evelina, “I had a toy broom when I was three.”

“Mum was always paranoid. What can I say?”

Evelina giggled, and I turned back to my breakfast, sure that today was going to be a good day


	3. Chapter Three: Bullies

 Today was going to be the worst day ever. Everyone was giving me The Look at my table, I was worried for a second because I thought there was no place for my wheelchair, but there was a spot where they removed part of the bench so I could put my wheelchair, and it floated so I was as high as everyone else. But even then, everyone was still giving me The Look. Probably because no one who had a disability had gone to Hogwarts. Ever. But my wheelchair was enchanted to float stairs, while everyone else had to walk, ha! 

_But my new roommates aren’t that bad, I think that they might actually be my friends. Friends?_ The other part of my brain said. _Why would anyone want to be friends with a disabled girl? You would just make them look bad._ “Hey, you okay?” Asked a girl at my table.“You looked like you were having a two debated conversation in your head. It looked painful.” 

“Uh?” I said distractedly,“I’m fine.” I didn’t really want anyone to feel sorry for me just because I’m in a wheelchair, too many people have been doing that. “Oh good. My name is Delphine, what’s yours?”

“Nala,” I said

“So, what are your first classes?” asked Delphine.

“Oh, I have Muggle studies with Professor Creevey, then after that, I have Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Potter, and then Charms with Professor Lovegood, Potions with Professor Malfoy, then lunch.”

“Ohhh, I have all the same classes as you do!” she said as she compared our class lists. “This must be fate! Ohh, we could sit by each other and…...” She paused and glanced at my wheelchair. 

“Oh.” I said, catching her look, “Headmistress McGonagall had a bench in each of my classes shortened in half so I can fit my wheelchair.”

“Oh good,” Said Delphine, “I’ll sit wherever your part of the bench is, so you won’t be alone,” She smiled. I smiled back, maybe I would have friends.                             

“Ohmygoodness! We're gonna be late! We better hurry!” She stood up, and grabbed the back of my wheelchair, but then paused. “Uh, is it okay if I push you and run?” She asked. 

“You don’t have to run, it will take me wherever I need to go. You can hitch a ride if you want, there are footholds at the bottom.” 

“Are you nuts?!?!?!? Yes! This will be SOOO fun. Let’s go to our hopefully not boring but probably is Muggle studies!” and with that, she put her feet in the footholds.

“Muggle studies, professor Creevey,” I said, and my wheelchair took off with my new friend hanging on for dear life.

 

“Welcome to muggle studies students. I know this is your first day, so I won’t over tax you with homework,” said Professor Creevey. There were sighs of relief at this, “But I still expect you to work hard, if you do, I will reward you. And if you have any trouble keeping up, please come to me.”

The rest of the classes were a blur, everyone was looking at me at each class, so I was getting used to The Look. The only thing I enjoyed was that Delphine stayed true to her promise. She sat by me for all four classes, even though other people invited her to sit with them.

~~~

After Potions, Delphine once again had to hang on for dear life as we zipped to lunch.

“I really should ask headmistress McGonagall to help me control the speed depending on how fast I need to get somewhere. You almost fell that time.”

“That’s okay. It will help me work on my grip for broom flying, so I can go faster than everyone else. Oh no.” She said as she stopped walking. She was looking at my spot at the table.

There were three girls over there, one on one side, two on the other side. 

I started to wheel over there, but Delphine grabbed my wheelchair, “You can’t go over there!” Said Delphine

“Well, why not?” I asked, “That’s the only place that I can sit at.” 

“Because those girls are Sarriah, the leader, and her two cronies, Maria and Lesley. I knew them at muggle school, they are full and complete bullies!” replied Delphine, “The only reason they're sitting there is that they know that’s your spot, which means that they are going to target you for the rest of the year.”

“Cronies? Really?” I took another look at the girls, they didn’t look like the kind of people who would be bullies, but looks can be deceiving.”Well,” I said, “We’re never going to get anything done by just standing here, let’s go ask if they would move.”

“Whoa, whoa whoa. You can’t just walk… I mean  _ wheel  _ over there and ask if they can move! They would crush you!”

“Phhhhh, just let them try.” And with that, I wheeled over.

“Excuse me.” I said as I wheeled over, “I’m afraid that is where my friend wanted to sit by me.” I pointed to where Sarriah was sitting.

“Did you hear something girls, it sounded like wind,” she said completely ignoring me.

“Excuse me,” I said louder. “You’re in my friend's seat.”

“Oh, am I? I didn’t see her name on it,”  she replied in a snarky voice. “See if you wanted this seat to be yours, you really should put your name on it.”

By then, everyone had stopped to look over at us, including the headmistress. I was starting to get fed up by now, and I probably did the worst thing I could say to a bully. 

“Well, guess what, I don’t think I see your name on it either, so technically, neither of us have the right to sit there, but if we play by the ‘who sat here last’ rules, that seat would belong to my friend Delphine.”

I left everyone in the dining hall a stunned silence as I shoved Sarriah over and onto the floor and pulled Delphine into the seat as I rolled into the part of my bench. “Why you little…..” She started to say, but I held up a finger to her, “You’ve already seen what I can do, and that was only an inkling. Don’t test me Sarriah, ‘cause if you do, you  _ will _ fail.”

Just then Headmistress McGonagall walked up, “Is there a problem here?” She asked

“Yes!” Sarriah shouted, “You should have her expelled! She totally wrinkled my new robe!”

“Miss Grant, if I expelled every student that stood up to bullies when they have done absolutely nothing wrong, that wouldn’t make me a very fair headmistress now, would it?”

Sarriah looked ready to explode. “Besides, if anyone should be expelled, it should be  _ you.  _ Remember, the only reason you’re here is that your parents jumped through hoops to make sure you went here, so, if you don’t want to get transferred to a less, um,  _ protected  _ school, you would be kind to refrain from speaking like that to your fellow students.”

And with that, McGonagall left the room.

 ~~~

“I cannot believe you did that!” Said Delphine, “It was so AWESOME!!!”  

She said as we zoomed away from lunch on my wheelchair. Her smile was so huge I thought her face would crack in half. 

“Yeah, well, no one should deserve to be treated that way.”

“Even if it’s Sarriah?”

“Okay, fine. Everyone but Sarriah deserves to be treated nicely.” I said with a smile.  _ Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad.  _ I thought as we zoomed to our next class.  


	4. Chapter 4

As I sat staring up at the velvet curtains above my bed I felt about ready to cry. How had I been sorted into Hufflepuff? How? It wasn’t fair! I was supposed to be a Slytherin like Mum and Dad and-and everyone else in the Baldwin family! I would be the laughingstock of the whole family. 

I groaned softly and rolled over. Luckily, the only other person in our room was Inyoka, who couldn’t hear me anyways. Just as I had that thought the door to our dorm room opened.

“Nala? Enna?” I hear Jace call softly. Taking a deep breath and composing my face, I poked my head out from between the heavy drapes.

“Yeah?”

“Oh, hey. Did I wake you up?”

“No,” I replied, shrugging. “I was awake.”

“Good.” Jace answered. “I was just wondering who was in here.”

“Me, and Inyoka. Don’t know where Nala went. Can she get here good? Or… Ok?” I felt my face burn at the mess up. 

“Oh, she’ll be fine.” Jace replied as she plopped down on her bed. “I saw her rocketing down the hall with some other girl from Gryffindor.”

“Hmm.” I replied shortly. We sat in silence for a few moments. Just silence. Long, horrible, awkward silence. After a little bit, Jace sighed heavily.

“I should probably go change for bed. It’s been a crazy day, huh?” I just nodded in response. I laid back down. Just a few minutes later, I heard the door open again, and the very slight hum of Nala’s floating wheelchair. I slowly and begrudgingly poked my head out again.

“Hey, Enna.” Nala said. “Do you know where everyone else is?”

“Jace is getting changed,” I said, nodding to the changing area in the corner. “And Inyoka is in bed. And I’m here.” I added with a slight pause and a tiny smile. Nala nodded.

“So. First day at Hogwarts. Yay or Nay?”

“It was good. _ Really _ stressful, though.” I said truthfully. I have Agoraphobia (fear of crowded places), I have atrocious anxiety, so the halls had been horrible. 

Nala nodded empathetically. “I agree.” She then tried to stifle a big, and decidedly real yawn as Jace emerged from the curtained changing room. Nalla grabbed some pajamas from the trunk at the end of her bed and said. “Well, I’d probably better get changed too. Good night.”

I just nodded, wanting to respond but unable to think of a good reply. Eventually, I just slipped back behind the bed curtains, ears red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Em apologizes for this being to short, we're all kind of stressed and busy with school.


	5. Chapter 5

The curtains were lightly colored in our room, allowing light to flood through them in the mornings, which was the only thing that ever woke me up. Today was our second week of school, it was the day that we had to officially start wearing our school uniforms. I rose before anyone else did, quickly pulling on my robes. I looked at the skirt for a moment, it had been what I had worn to the Feast, but for some reason, I could not see myself wearing it any longer than I already had. I sighed and walked over to my chest of drawers, hopefully opening the top drawer quietly, I pulled out a pair of black dress pants. I pulled them on and then tucked my shirt in, admiring how I looked in the mirror.

The pants felt normal as they covered quite a bit of my dark skin, I was used to wearing them as opposed to the loose fabric of a skirt. I had worked out in the fields with my parents til I had to go to school, so they were what I always wore. I walked into the bathroom and began to remove the emeralds and replacing them with garnets, my favorite jewels. I patiently wove each one through my hair, I knew that there was a spell that would charm them into my hair, but I found they always looked better when I did them with my own, calloused hands.

I walked back into the main part of our dorm and flung open the curtains, allowing light to invade our small living space. Nala and Enna both rolled over and groaned, shielding their eyes away from the light. I smiled at that and then looked over to Jace, who was awake and reading a book on her bed, knowing her, she had been up since I had been in the bathroom, she was wearing a skirt, unlike me.

“Why are you wearing pants?” Jace asked, bewildered. I shrugged and cast the spell on both of us, it was one that Professor Lovegood had taken us aside in class to teach us, it allowed us all to communicate via our minds, though it would only say what we wanted it to say. 

_ “Because I want to,”  _ I said, my voice sounded foreign, like someone else was talking inside my head.

_ “But they’re so uncomfortable!”  _ Jace said in my mind I laughed and shook my head, she thought everything that constricted movement even just the slightest.

_ “Not really,”  _ I snarked back looking at her with my eyebrows raised,  _ “Now come down here so I can braid your hair.” _

_ “Do I have to?”  _ she groaned as she slid off of the bed and down onto our stack of trunks in the corner.

_ “Yes,” _ I replied. I wove my hands through her thick, pale hair, I wove it back and forth, creating a beautiful fishtail braid before I pinned it around her head.  _ Don’t take it out this time.” _

_ “Yes, Mum,”  _ she said, rolling her eyes and moved back over to her bed. I stuck my tongue out at her playfully before I mind shouted at everyone to get up.

~~~

That night, Jace lay with her head on my arm, reading her book as she always was. Her legs twitched and fidgeted, she hummed and made comments about her book every so often, a side affect of her ADHD. I sat up suddenly, looking over at Nala who was sitting at her desk,  _ Hey do you guys want to go get something to eat?  _ I asked, not really caring who responded as I walked over to the door.

_ Aren’t we not allowed outside after like nine?  _ Nala asked turning around from her desk.

_ Who says anyone has to know? _ I asked playfully, I looked over to Enna who had gotten up off of her bed and was slipping on some shoes.  _ You coming with me Enna? _

The Hufflepuff grinned and walked close to me, bouncing as she pulled Jace up out of the bed.  _ Come on! Where's your sense of adventure? _ At that Nala turned and wheeled over to the door, opening it and going first out of the hall. Jace sighed and then jumped up, practically skipping down to the halls with us .

The four of us padded through the halls, my bare feet linked with the stone gently, making sticking noises every time I took a step. Nala was hovering in the air, a brave look on her face as she broke the rules. Jace had her wand out, ready to cast an unnoticeable charm on the other two, not including myself because if ‘I got in trouble it was my own fault,’as she so tenderly put it. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling every time that Enna jumped at her own shadow. 

Milky white light poured through the window down onto the stones, giving a peaceful look to the normally so busy halls. I felt Enna quiver next to me as we continued down the hall. Voices resonated through the stone as we walked, I placed my hand out to stop my friends that were all still reeling at the fact that we were out of bed after dark. They stopped and stared, just listening, something that I would never be able to do.

Their eyes widened and Jace grabbed my hand, weaving our fingers together so that it would be easier for us to run. We sprinted through the halls, my bare feet stuck to the cold stone, making it hard for us to run faster than a slow sprint. 

The ground echoed with the footsteps of the teachers behind us. I could tell by my friend's wide-eyed expression that they were close. I sprinted faster, clutching onto Jace like my life depended on it.  

We swiveled around a corner, banging into the wall as we did so. It took five minutes of sprinting down the abandoned halls before we were in viewing range of our dorm. Just then, I felt a spell in the dead center of my back, forcing the world to turn black. 

The edges of the dark room frayed and I felt my limbs grow heavy and stiff. I fell downward. Just falling, for what seemed like hours when it was really just a few moments. I glanced over, seeing that Jace was lying by my side. I felt her hand close around mine, tightly holding on, just before her body froze the way that mine had done just moments ago. Someone stood over us, magic-created light fled into the hall, allowing us to see that we were nowhere near our dorm room, instead we were closer to where the old Hufflepuff dorms had been. 

There was a strange amount of motion and flashing lights before we were sitting in the grand hall. Jace and I were both facing the chairs and sitting on the tables, one molecule after another it seemed that our bodies thawed out, though our hands stayed linked together, her nails began to cut into my dark flesh. Her pulse picked up with mine and all she could say through the empathy link was, “OhGodohGodohGodohGod.”

I began to shiver as Professor Potter and Professor Malfoy walked into the room. She shivered with me, her pulse quickening even faster than it had been before. He rubbed her hand with my thumb, muttering soothing words the best I could through our empathy link. 

Professor Malfoy began to speak, though my vision was so blurred out by fear that I couldn’t tell what he was saying. Jace held my hand tighter and translated for me, “He says that we shouldn’t have been in the halls. But he’ll let it slide for tonight. Professor Potter is asking how much we heard from their conversation.” 

I can feel my eyes light up as the last of her words enter my deaf ears, “ _ None,”  _ I sign, pulling my hand away from the other girl as the BSL leaves my nimble fingers.  _ “I’m deaf.” _ I watch as the teacher’s shoulders seize up. I tilt my head to the side and take Jace’s hand within my own, trying to help her calm down. They nodded and then sent us off to our dorm, but they followed close behind us to make sure that we were indeed going there. 

When the light of our room finally surrounded us, I breathed hard, filling my lungs again and again until I had regained my breath. “Hey are you guys okay?” Nala asked, wheeling over to make sure that we were both alright. I nodded, but there was one topic on my mind that I was almost too afraid to ask.

“I can’t believe that was actually a thing,” Nala whispered through our mental link. I cocked my head to the side and there seemed to be a sudden realization of my question.

“We’re at war, _ again _ .” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell us what you think about our latest plot twist for this year!


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